Tempest of Void
by Estia
Summary: Rainpaw, a loner apprentice no one bothers to socialize with. Ember, a young fox who despises everyone and everything in the world. An unlikely bond develops between the two outcasts, while someone else plots to tear them apart.


**Tempest of Void**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Seeing**

The sun beat down upon Rainpaw's curled up form. He had awoken just moments later. As he stretched, his dark silver fur rippled along his spine. Long-legged and sinewy, he was a regal figure.

Somewhere off in the distance, a lark sang strands of its song, calling to other birds. Its cry was answered by a deeper, thrumming noise. Rainpaw was completely content to watch it all, but a massive black shape almost immediately obscured his view. Sighing with annoyance, he straightened his legs and followed his mentor, Blackthorn, towards the training grounds.

Blackthorn was a very well known warrior, popular and talented. His muscles flexed under his pelt as he walked. He was midnight-furred, with a gray dusting around his flanks and muzzle, and piercing pale green eyes.

He crouched low, his tail thrashing behind him as he readied himself for an attack. The tom was leaning on his hindpaws, so that meant he was aiming for a quick, forward charge. His left paw was positioned slightly sideways, obviously hoping to give him more power as he attacked from the right. Just as he'd planned, Blackthorn sprinted from the right.

Rainpaw didn't move.

Instead, his brilliant blue eyes, which he was named for, were trained on the movements of his mentor. Then, as he neared, the dark silver tom lashed out his right paw.

Blackthorn reacted instantly, leaping into the air.

You fell for it, Rainpaw whispered mentally, smirking to himself. His hindlegs, tucked underneath himself, pushed off and caught the ebony-colored tom on the stomach, knocking him to the ground.

"Nice!" Blackthorn laughed. Rainpaw glowed with pleasure at the praise. His mentor, it seemed, was the only one who ever understood him. Or, at least, he was the only one who cared to listen.

The massive tom's eyes softened considerably as his compliment was met by silence. Gently, he nuzzled the small apprentice's forehead in an attempt to soothe him. Rainpaw shook his head, clearing the thoughts out of his mind. They still burned, fresh in his memory. Like a scar across the heart that simply couldn't be healed over time, like a scar the banished him forever.

"I'm sorry," he mewed softly before dipping his head and darting away into the foliage. Blackthorn watched with sorrowful eyes as he watched the tom retreat farther and farther into the forest.

Rainpaw didn't mind the extended limbs from old oaks and cedars that scratched his pelt. They were comforting in a way. He rested beneath the sprawled, gnarled roots of a rowan, staring up between the leaves. A small, white moth flitted from leaf to leaf, relishing the soft heat against its pearly wings. Black speckles adorned the edges of the translucent appendages. It was so free, so alive; two things he could never be, not now, not ever. In a way, he still was alive, for his heart remained beating and all his organs worked perfectly. But he was dead in a different sense, in the sense of happiness and serenity.

The light that filtered through the high canopy leaves was dimming, now, ever so slowly. A stunning sea of colors swarmed the sky, filled with pinks and golds and reds. They filled his mind, wrapping him in the tendrils of fantasy, trying to drag him out of his mope in reality.

Something inside him rebelled.

It was an instinctive reaction, and despite his want to be set free, it just happened. The connection was instantly broken, and he could almost feel the arms retreating back to the sky. All was still again.

He snarled in frustration, claws unsheathed and raking through the grass beneath. They upturned dirt in his tantrum at himself, ripping up tender shoots of green. It calmed him down an put his emotions in a more controllable state. In a way to keep his leader, Krestrelstar, in the dark, he scented the air for hints of prey.

A squirrel was dangling on a branch, just out of his reach.

_I'd sooner die than become a squirrel,_ he thought icily. _How can they stand it?_

There was a bankvole skidding across the rippling lake. Rainpaw barely restrained his hiss of annoyance.

_What does StarClan think I am? A fish?_

There was a large, plump vole just between the border of RiverClan and ThunderClan.

To avoid crossing into the opposite Clan's territory and risk another useless argument with the pompous RiverClan cats, he was forced to attack either from the side, or straight at the creature.

He advanced silently, his tail narrowly missing the undergrowth. Then, a red streak blazed out of the foliage and pounced on the animal. Ravenously, the creature tore into the fresh meat, delighting in the sweet aroma.

"What was that for?" Rainpaw spat furiously. The scarlet head lifted from the carcass of the dead animal, her muzzle caked with dry blood.

She growled dangerously, an undertone filled with such passion, such hate, such spite, that it was overwhelming. Then, she turned and fled. He watched her tail disappear over the ridge. Her pelt was full of golds and reds and scarlet as well as several other's he'd never seen before. She was unique, an oddity of her species. Her tail tip, rather than being white, was black, as were her paws and ear tips. Her eyes were a striking, gray-flecked amber.

He shook his pelt, refocusing his mind on hunting. He started for camp with five different pieces of prey.

---

He simply watched as the other apprentices chatted the day away. Without having to look, he already knew exactly which apprentices were talking to each other. It was the same every day.

Ivorypaw was lounging on the edge of the camp, next to the large, cropped boulder that jutted out from the ground.

Destinypaw, Streampaw, Brownpaw, Stonepaw, and Icepaw were talking together, close to the entrance of the apprentice den. He could even guess what they were talking about. Brownpaw and Stonepaw were locked together in an intense battle over who caught the most prey, both trying to impress Destinypaw and Streampaw. Icepaw was glaring at his two immature brothers occasionally butting in to add a random comment about how mousebrained they were as kits.

Streampaw was being Streampaw, enjoying all the attention she was getting from the two toms.

Destinypaw was saying absolutely nothing, seeming as if she were listening but actually trying desperately to ignore them. She didn't realize how much more of a target she was making herself by doing so. Then again, she never said much anyways; she was more of the shy, quiet, rule-following type.

Sighing, Rainpaw padded quietly over to the warrior's den, where Blackthorn lay, sunning himself while boasting about their apprentices with a ginger tabby he recognized as Sparrowheart.

"Sparrowheart, Blackthorn," he mewed respectfully, dipping his head to each of them in turn. Sparrowheart smiled at him warmly. Rainpaw didn't socialize with her often, but he felt comfortable around her. Blackthorn chuckled, rasping his tongue over the she cat's golden ear. Feeling a moment of light-heartedness, the dark silver tom purred,

"Aww, Blackthorn's got a she cat!"

Both warriors looked startled at the friendly outburst which was extremely rare by Rainpaw, but laughed. Sparrowheart brushed her tail along the black tom's flank. The tom could already see the adoration his mentor held for Sparrowheart. He leaned by Blackthorn's ear and teased,

"Remember, I call dibs on naming a kit!" He raced off before Blackthorn could tackle him to the ground, despite his embarrassment.

Rainpaw was in a much better mood than before. This was how he used to always feel, safe, warm, happy, and free. Destinypaw smiled slightly at him when he passed, amused by the expression of wonder and euphoria plastered across his face. Curling up tightly into a ball, he slept more fitfully than he had ever since the fateful day that changed his life.

* * *

**Allegiances**

**THUNDERCLAN**

**Leader:**

**Krestrelstar **_- Dark brown tom with ginger flecks and two white front paws._

**Deputy:**

**Frostheart_ - Silver-blue tabby she cat with stunning golden eyes._**

**_Apprentice; Ivorypaw_**

**Medicine Cat:**

**Foxwhisker**_ - Amber-furred tom with one blue eye and one green eye._

_Apprentice; Whisperwind - Snowy white she cat._

**Queens:**

**Thornfur **_- Golden-brown tabby she cat with deep green eyes. (Mousekit, Badgerkit)_

_Mate; Eagleclaw_

**Rosefall**_ - Stunning red she cat with amber eyes and a brown chest and muzzle. (Expecting)_

_Mate; Rockpelt_

**Warriors:**

**Specklenose**_ - Tortoiseshell tom with a black smudge on his nose._

**Firewing**_ - Golden-furred she cat with icy blue eyes._

_Apprentice; Brownpaw_

**Harefoot**_ - Cream-furred tom with brown points; green eyes._

_Apprentice; Stonepaw_

**Sparrowheart**_ - Mottled ginger tabby she cat with hazel eyes._

_Apprentice; Destinypaw_

**Eagleclaw**_ - White-, brown-, and black-spotted tom._

_Mate; Thornfur_

**Rockpelt**_ - Gray-furred tom with black stripes, paws, chest, tail tip, muzzle, and underbelly._

_Mate; Rosefall_

_Apprentice; Icepaw_

**Blackthorn**_ - Ebony-colored tom with a gray dusting around his flanks and muzzle; light green eyes._

_Apprentice; Rainpaw_

**Sandfeather**_ - Sandy-brown tom with blue eyes and chocolate-brown paws._

**Liontail**_ - Golden-brown tom with gray eyes._

_Apprentice; Streampaw_

**Apprentices:**

**Ivorypaw**_ - Pearly white tom with a gray mask, paws, and tail tip; dark green eyes._

**Brownpaw**_ - Solid, short-haired brown tom with amber eyes rimmed green._

**Stonepaw**_ - Smoky gray tabby tom; green eyes; brother of Ivorypaw._

**Destinypaw**_ - Stunning silver she cat with black stripes and ice-blue eyes._

**Icepaw**_ - Wrongly named ginger tom with white flecks around his paws and muzzle._

**Rainpaw**_ - Dark silver tom with brilliant dark blue eyes._

**Streampaw**_ - Golden she cat with white-tipped fur._

**Elders:**

**Patchyfoot**_ - Old, red-, brown-, and white-spotted tom with amber eyes._

**Brokenear**_ - Gray tom with only one ear._

**Cleareye**_ - Blind, dark brown she cat._

**Kits:**

**Mousekit**_ - Sweet, fawn-colored she kit with dark amber eyes and black stripes._

**Badgerkit**_ - Black tom with a single white stripe running down his face._

* * *

_Please, please, please review!_


End file.
